When the US version of Antiques Roadshow filmed an episode in the town of Spokane, Washington, last summer, local man Alvin Barr decided to go along with a distinctive jug he’d bought a few years earlier.

Barr had found the jug in an barn during an estate sale, covered in straw an chicken droppings. He paid $300 for it - and, though he was pleased with his purchase, thought he might have overpaid somewhat.

“It's bizarre and wonderful,” said Fletcher of the jug. “You even see a little bit of Pablo Picasso going on here.

“It's a little difficult to identify precisely when this was made, but I think it's probably late 19th or early 20th century.

“Estimating its value is a little difficult. I think in a retail setting, somebody might well ask in the area of between $30,000 and $50,000 for this.”

I don’t know where those faces came from; they just came roaring out of me onto those pots.Betsy Soule

However, Fletcher was mistaken. The jug had in fact been made in the 1970s by a high school student named Betsy Soule.

Betsy recognised her handiwork and got in touch with the show – and provided photographic evidence to prove she had made it 40 years ago.

The one-time artisan told the her local newspaper, the Bend Bulletin, she hadn’t set out to make a Picasso-esqe piece: “I was just a really passionate, artistic kid,” she said. “I don’t know where those faces came from; they just came roaring out of me onto those pots.”

Fletcher has subsequently downgraded his estimate for the jug’s value to around $3,000-$5,000, still significantly more than it’s current owner paid for it.

Barr says he prefers the lower valuation: “I hated it when it was $30,000 to $50,000, because who wants $30,000 to $50,000 lying around their house? Now, it’s on my table, and I love it.”

Betsy, who now works as a professional horse trainer, says her brush with the antiques trade has made her consider going back to pottery.

“If I ever retire at 103 or something, maybe I’ll get back in to it,” she said.